The Origin of this
Festival — origin and duration— 'Hallel' sung on each day of its duration; the
people carried palm branches, and there was a grand illumination of the Temple and of
private houses— that the date of Christmas was taken from this feast—
as to the illumination

The Feast of
Wood-offering — Feast of the Wood-offering on the last of the nine seasons of the
year, when such offerings were brought in the Temple— accounts of its origin

'And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
And Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomon's Porch.'— 10:22, 23

Post-Mosaic Festivals

Besides the festivals mentioned in the Law of Moses, other festive seasons were also
observed at the time of our Lord, to perpetuate the memory either of great national
deliverances or of great national calamities. The former were popular feasts, the latter
public fasts. Though most, if not all of them, are alluded to in the Canonical Scriptures,
it is extremely difficult to form a clear idea of how they were kept in the Temple.
Many of the practices connected with them, as described in Jewish writings, or customary
at present, are of much later date than Temple times, or else apply rather to the festive
observances in the various synagogues of the land than to those in the central sanctuary.
And the reason of this is evident. Though those who were at leisure might like to go to
Jerusalem for every feast, yet the vast majority of the people would, except on the great
festivals, naturally gather in the synagogues of their towns and villages. Moreover, these
feasts and fasts were rather national than typical— commemorated a past event
instead of pointing forward to a great and world-important fact yet to be realised.
Lastly, being of later, and indeed, of human, not Divine institution, the authorities at
Jerusalem did not venture to prescribe for them special rites and sacrifices, which, as we
have seen, constituted the essence of Temple worship.

Arranging these various feasts and fasts in the order of their institution and
importance, we have:—